Unprecedented: Female tiger acts as babysitter for another female’s cubs

Are tigers solitary animals? That’s what we’ve always thought—scientists included. But nature never ceases to surprise us, and today it offers us an exceptional scene: a female tiger acting as a babysitter for another female’s cubs.

The discovery, from BBC's Earth documentary “Tiger Island” about Nepal’s tigers, raises many questions and could well open up new perspectives on the social future of these magnificent felines.

As one of the planet’s most iconic animals, one might think that tigers hold no more secrets for anyone. Yet these new images prove the opposite: the documentary, filmed in Nepal, followed a team of wildlife filmmakers and big cat experts on an expedition aimed at uncovering the secret lives of these great predators.

The team focused on a small island just 4 square kilometers in size, located in a river system in western Nepal, which is home to one of the highest concentrations of tigers in the world. For two months, they tracked these big cats, using drones in particular, and learned to identify each individual by studying their stripes, which are all unique.

“We assume they’re incredibly territorial,” explains Dan O’Neill, a biologist specializing in big cats and a member of the team. “Females only interact when absolutely necessary; they don’t share their cubs, and they don’t share parenting responsibilities.”

In fact, everything seemed “normal” until the film crew stumbled upon this incredible scene: a tigress caring for and protecting cubs that weren’t her own. This is unprecedented, as these animals do not live in packs but form only small family units consisting of the mother and her cubs. These units last from 18 to 28 months, until the cubs have grown large enough to hunt for themselves.

In particular, the team filmed a tigress named Goma, who has two cubs of her own but is actually caring for five cubs: three of them were actually born to another tigress, Jugini. When Jugini ventures a short distance away to hunt, she entrusts her cubs to Goma, placing her complete trust in her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Manju Mahatara, a local guide specializing in tiger watching who worked on the “Tiger Island” project. “A mother leaving her cubs with another mother is truly unusual.”

One theory might explain this behavior: it could be a reaction to the threat posed by male tigers, a way to keep the cubs safe while one of the two mothers is away. It is also believed that the two adult tigresses filmed in the video, Goma and Jugini, are related, with Goma likely being Jugini’s mother.

The video clip was posted on Discover Wildlife, the official website of BBC Wildlife magazine.

Sources: Discover Wildlife / BBC Earth / YouTube